I have said several times on this little space that 2013 is my year of boundaries. I'm attempting to shave away good things so as to have a larger space for best things.
This post on Desiring God walks us through some litmus tests on deciding whether or not to take on something new.
It goes on to say this:
"Questions are mental machetes God gives us to slash through the
overgrowth of the world’s demands on us. We are not to uncritically take
a new obligation on. We must test it against what we want to become. So
we must ask obligations questions like
Why should I do this?
Why now?
What is it promising me?
What kingdom end will it accomplish?
Will it
fragment my focus on my primary callings?
Why does it feel so
emotionally compelling to me?"
It's easy to think that our motives are pure when we say "yes" to something. For me, asking that last question about emotional compelling is a big one. I have found that many times my yes is a subtle luring of the affections of others. When this is my motivation, that means that my reward is given to me by men on this earth and in this life. That makes void the greater, more fulfilling reward that the Lord promises me from him. Working overseas like we do can be a dangerous calling for the heart.
We can:
--see people as projects simply so that we have something to report.
--invite ourselves into situations simply so that we can tell others that we were there when...
--allow our egos to inflate when people praise our sacrifices.
--feel like we are more important than we actually are.
--look down on the national people that we work with as if they need our constant influx of wisdom and knowledge.
Asking these questions laid out above is crucial to our hearts. It allows our humility to become a committed part of our hearts rather than a platitude said during prayer time.
Asking these questions very quickly becomes not just a way to become less busy, but a way to check our hearts as we submit our daily tasks to our Father.
